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Connecting from Dolphin (macOS / Windows / Linux)

Step-by-step guide for getting PSO Episode I & II Plus (USA Rev 2) connected to the server from a desktop Dolphin install. Tested on Dolphin 2603a on macOS (Apple Silicon, Metal renderer, HLE BBA). The same INI snippets work on Windows and Linux Dolphin — only the file paths differ. v1.0 and v1.1 use the same setup; newserv treats every retail GC disc as the same Version::GC_V3 client revision and the BBA_BUILTIN_DNS setting is global (not per-game), so the only revision-specific work is the per-game INI file name (one per disc-ID).

Plan for ~15 minutes per player, ~one minute of that on the server side (Josh adds your IP to the allowlist).

If you're on a Batocera Linux machine instead, see client-setup.md.

Before you start

You need:

Step 1 — Send your public IP to Josh

Until your IP is in the server's allowlist, Dolphin's DNS queries from PSO will silently fail. Josh runs terraform apply and you'll be in within a minute. Don't skip this step.

Step 2 — Locate Dolphin's config directory

The exact path depends on your OS:

OS Path
macOS ~/Library/Application Support/Dolphin/
Windows (installed) %APPDATA%\Dolphin Emulator\
Windows (portable) <dolphin folder>\User\
Linux ~/.config/dolphin-emu/

Inside it you'll see Config/, GameSettings/, GC/, etc.

Step 3 — Set the BBA DNS (the magic line)

This is the one config change that makes PSO Plus talk to your server instead of the default Schtserv. Open Config/Dolphin.ini in a text editor and add a single line under the [Core] section:

[Core]
BBA_BUILTIN_DNS = 54.173.68.119

That's the public IP of Josh's server. Save and close.

Why this matters. Dolphin's emulated GameCube Broadband Adapter intercepts every DNS packet from the game and silently rewrites the destination IP to whatever BBA_BUILTIN_DNS is set to. The default is Schtserv (3.18.217.27), which is why PSO normally connects to Schtserv without anyone configuring DNS. Pointing it at our server makes PSO query our DNS instead. (Source: Dolphin's BuiltIn.cpp.)

Important: this MUST go in the global Dolphin.ini. A per-game INI at GameSettings/GPOE8P.ini won't work — Dolphin only reads BBA_BUILTIN_DNS from the global config.

Step 4 — Per-game settings for PSO Plus

Create GameSettings/GPOE8P.ini inside the Dolphin config directory with the following contents. Substitute the MemcardAPath path for your OS.

[Core]
# Broadband Adapter (HLE) on Serial Port 1 — required for online.
SerialPort1 = 12

# Dual-core CPU emulation — Plus's online code is heavy.
CPUThread = True

# CRITICAL: raw memcard format, not Dolphin's default GCI Folder.
# Folder mode corrupts PSO's network info file every boot.
SlotA = 1
MemcardAPath = /Users/<you>/Library/Application Support/Dolphin/GC/USA/MemoryCardA-PSO.USA.raw

[DSP]
EnableJIT = True

If the .raw file doesn't exist yet, Dolphin creates it on first boot with PSO Plus. You don't need to download anything.

Step 5 — Boot PSO and register your account

Launch Dolphin, double-click your PSO Plus disc image, and let it boot through the Sega/Sonic Team logos, EULA, and date prompt. Then:

  1. Press START at the title screen.
  2. Select ONLINE GAME.
  3. PSO will ask which memory card slot to use → Slot A.
  4. PSO will tell you it's creating a fresh network info file → confirm.
  5. PSO will show "In order to play PSO Episode 1 and 2 online, you must purchase a Hunter's License." — this is just informational. Select Agree to continue.
  6. Enter the Serial Number the admin gave you — a 10-digit number. The server checks these now, so it must match your account exactly.
  7. Enter the Access Key the admin gave you — 12 characters.
  8. Enter the Password the admin gave you — up to 8 characters. Save it to the memory card at the next prompt so you don't have to re-enter it every session.
  9. Game Certificate Confirmation screen — verify and press Yes.
  10. Save Password to Memory Card? — Yes (saves you typing it next time).

PSO will then:

If you see "Welcome to PSO Josh!" in a yellow text box, you're in.

Troubleshooting

Symptom Likely cause Fix
Device connected to Serial Port 1 cannot be recognized BBA HLE not active Verify SerialPort1 = 12 in GameSettings/GPOE8P.ini
The network information file on the Memory Card in Slot A is corrupt Slot A is in GCI Folder mode Verify SlotA = 1 and MemcardAPath = ... in the per-game INI
(No.100) You are banned from this server. Dolphin sent DNS to Schtserv default — your BBA_BUILTIN_DNS line is in the wrong place Re-check it's in the global Dolphin.ini under [Core], not in GameSettings/GPOE8P.ini. Restart Dolphin after editing.
(No.102) You could not be connected to the server. DNS resolved to a host that's not actually listening, OR your public IP isn't in the allowlist Ping Josh — he'll check docker logs newserv for your IP
Connecting to the DNS server. hangs forever Your machine has no internet route to the server, OR Josh's Lightsail instance is down Check your own connectivity, then ping Josh
Stays at title screen, never gets to ONLINE GAME Wrong disc revision OR per-game INI for a different game ID Right-click the disc in Dolphin's game list → Properties → "Game ID" field shows what version you have

Any other weirdness: send Josh the output of

ls -la ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dolphin/Config/Dolphin.ini
grep BBA_BUILTIN_DNS ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dolphin/Config/Dolphin.ini
cat ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dolphin/GameSettings/GPOE8P.ini

and he can usually tell what's off in 30 seconds.

How this differs from real GameCube + BBA hardware

If you have an actual GameCube with a Broadband Adapter, you don't need any of the Dolphin INI configuration — instead you set Primary DNS in PSO's in-game network setup to Josh's server IP (54.173.68.119). PSO writes that value to the memory card and uses it for all subsequent DNS queries directly.

The Dolphin BBA HLE quirk (the silent DNS redirect via BBA_BUILTIN_DNS) doesn't exist on real hardware — the BBA there honors whatever DNS the in-game config tells it to use.

Reference